5.2 PTR: Reputation Changes, Lei Shen Raid Video, Gear Clarifications

Today's PTR news covers some ways to make reputation easier in 5.2, as well as an exciting video preview of Lei Shen by Lore from TankSpot! Click on the "Dungeon Journal" tab to see all the details and spells for the encounter.

We also have a few posts answering some questions about 5.2 gear--how strong the PvP gear is, why 5.2 raid gear has such a high ilvl, and that is unsurprisingly a placeholder item that isn't making it to live in its current form.

Raid Preview: Lei Shen

Lei Shen

Tyrant. Dictator. Conqueror. Emperor. These titles of the Thunder King were earned by bringing absolute misery to every race of Pandaria. Resurrected into a world where his people no longer rule, Lei Shen is bent on ending the farce and bringing the land under his heel once more.

Lightning Conduits:While Lei Shen is in range of a Lightning Conduit he will power it, granting him an additional ability specific to that Lightning Conduit. The energy level of the Conduit increases the longer Lei Shen is charging it, increasing damage dealt by the granted ability. When the Conduit's power reaches 100 energy, it will increase the level of the Conduit, and the Conduit's energy will reset to 0.

North Conduit: Static Shock: Lei Shen charges the target with Static Shock after 8 sec. Static Shock inflicts 1000000 Nature damage divided among all players within 8 yards.As the level of the Static Shock Conduit increases, the number of targets Lei Shen afflicts with Static Electricity will also increase.

East Conduit: Diffusion Chain: Inflicts 97500 to 102500 Nature damage, chaining to nearby enemies. When an enemy is hit by Diffusion Chain, a Diffused Lightning spawns at the location.As the level of the Diffusion Chain Conduit increases, the spawned Diffused Lightning elementals grow more powerful.

In Heroic, the Diffused Lightning will fixate on the player that it spawned from.

South Conduit: Overcharge: Lei Shen Overcharges a target player. The player becomes rooted and after 6 sec causes Overcharge to burst, creating a torus of electric energy around the target to quickly expands creating a ring with a safe area in the middle. Inflicts 146250 to 153750 Nature damage, stunning effected targets for 3 sec.As the level of the Overcharge Conduit increases, the number of targets Lei Shen afflicts with Overcharge will also increase.

West Conduit: Bouncing Bolt: Lei Shen conjures Bouncing Bolts that target random locations on the ground. Each Bolt inflicts 107250 to 112750 Nature damage split among enemies within 6 yards. If the Bouncing Bolt does not impact with an enemy, an Unharnessed Power is formed, and the Bouncing Bolt will bounce again.As the level of the Bouncing Bolt Conduit increases, the number of Bouncing Bolts that Lei Shen conjures will also increase.

Unharnessed Power: When Bouncing Bolts impact the ground and are not absorbed by enemies, an Unharnessed Power is unleashed.

Stage One: Thunderstruck!:Lei Shen equips his Axe, Thunder, which he can throw with deadly accuracy and cause lightning to strike the ground wherever it lands. Lei Shen will charge any Conduit that he is near.

Discharged Energy: If Lei Shen is not charging a Conduit, he will Discharge electricity, inflicting increasing Nature damage every 0.5 sec.

Maim: If the target of Decapitate gets far enough from Lei Shen, they are safe from Decapitation and instead are merely maimed.

Thunderstruck: Lei Shen winds up to hurl his axe at a target location, inflicting 1462500 to 1537500 Nature damage to nearby enemies. The damage inflicted decreases the farther away an enemy is from the impact point.

Overloaded Circuits: The Conduit with the highest charge after Supercharge Conduits expires becomes Overloaded, disabling the Conduit. An Overloaded Conduit inflicts 73125 to 76875 Nature damage every 1 sec to that quadrant of the room.

Stage Two: Lightning Will End You!:Lei Shen equips his Polearm, Lightning, allowing him to call lightning from the sky. Lei Shen will charge any Conduit that he is near.

Discharged Energy: If Lei Shen is not charging a Conduit, he will Discharge electricity, inflicting increasing Nature damage every 0.5 sec.

Fusion Slash: Lei Shen slashes at the target with his polearm, inflicting 536250 to 563750 Nature damage and increases damage taken by Fusion Slash by 50% for 45 sec.

Summon Ball Lightning: Inflicts 243750 to 256250 Nature damage to enemies within 6 yards and creates a Ball Lightning at the location.

Ball Lightning: The Ball Lightning rushes towards the farthest enemy, inflicting increasing Nature damage based on the distance it traveled to the target.

Lightning Whip: Lei Shen cracks a Lightning Whip across the floor, inflicting 731250 to 768750 Nature damage to enemies within 80 yards in front of him, leaving a Lightning Bolt behind on the ground that can be avoided by jumping over it.

Overloaded Circuits: The Conduit with the highest charge after Supercharge Conduits expires becomes Overloaded, disabling the Conduit. An Overloaded Conduit inflicts 73125 to 76875 Nature damage every 1 sec to that quadrant of the room.

Stage Three: Master of Thunder and Lightning:Lei Shen equips both his Axe and Polearm wielding both Thunder and Lightning against his enemies. Lei Shen cast Overwhelming Power and consume all electricity from the Throne of Thunder, destroying any remaining functional Conduits, preventing them from being activated anymore.

Overwhelming Power: Lei Shen absorbs all of the electrical power from the Throne of Thunder, destroying any remaining functional Conduits, preventing them from being activated anymore. Overwhelming Power causes his melee attacks to inflict 14625 to 15375 Nature damage over 1 sec.

Reputation in 5.2

Random dungeons and scenarios now have a "*Bonus Reputation:" line and a button that opens up your reputation panel. Draztal posted that the rep bonuses are "750 for your first heroic and 325 for your first scenario."

Sunsong Ranch also has a new way to improve reputation with factions of your choice--Work Orders.

A pillar has been added to your farm, by Farmer Yoon. This pillar has quests for all of the major Mists of Pandaria factions (, , , , , ), but you must have unlocked that faction's dailies in order to access the Work Orders. These initial quests (such as ) ask you to plant 8 specific seeds on your farm and do not grant reputation.

Draztal also clarifies: "In order to use the Work Orders in Sunsong Ranch, you need to be exalted with The Tiillers and all plots unlocked, but it's not required to own Sunsong. Work orders will be available for most 5.0/5.1 factions, but it will most likely not include Black Prince."

Once that work order has been completed, you are then told to harvest eight specific crops the next day and turn in 40 vegetables (such as ). This then rewards you with +300 reputation before bonuses. A pile of crates and food has been added to a corner of your farm, which completes the quest.

You can pick up all "Work Orders I" quests at once, but can only really proceed with two of them if you have a maxed farm, since each quest takes up eight out of sixteen farm plots.

Raiding Gear in 5.2

Daxxarri

Ion "Watcher" Hazzikostas saw this thread, and wanted share his thoughts on some of the issues you guys have raised:

We think it’s worth noting that many players began their Mists of Pandaria raiding experience with an average item level in the low 460s. Over the course of the past four months, Heroic raiders have seen their average item level climb by as much as 50, while normal mode raid groups that are just getting to Sha of Fear for the first time likely have an average item level that compares to what the cutting-edge guilds had when conquering Heroic . Getting raid loot along the way has likely felt like a meaningful progression, and the overall damage and healing output of a raid group grows measurably from week to week with each piece of gear looted from a defeated boss. We like that, and we want to give players a similar sense of progression.

We could have taken an alternative, more conservative approach, where Raid Finder awarded ilvl 496 items and Normal awarded 509 items. A guild that has only done the current normal mode raids, but no Heroics, might then walk into with an average item level near 500 (lots of 496 items from and Terrace, some of them upgraded to 504 with Valor). That doesn’t leave much room to grow – it means that players would only be a few percent stronger when facing Lei Shen at the end of the instance than they were facing Jin’rokh at the start. It also means that when raiders run into a roadblock halfway through the raid, there wouldn’t be much hope that a bit more gear from the next clear would have a significant impact.

Ultimately, we think that raid progression works better, and is more compelling, when there are meaningful increases in power from gear. The effort of downing a boss for the first time is properly rewarded with loot that is attractive to all members of the raid, and the steady increase in player power over the course of progressing through an instance allows us to scale the challenge accordingly. For example, we can now design Lei Shen around the expectation that the average raid group that reaches him will have an item level of nearly 520. The cutting-edge groups that tear through the zone in the first week or two will be comparatively undergeared when they reach him. Without any other changes on our end, item progression means that the same encounter can pose a stern test to a top guild when 5.2 comes out, while still being doable by the groups that only reach the same encounter a couple of months down the line. For example, Heroic was a brutal test of DPS for raiders who faced him last October, but now he feels like part of a smooth progression for groups that are just graduating from normal modes and beginning Heroics.

We’re confident that our planned item levels are not going to skew class balance or degenerate gameplay, and we’re monitoring the performance of all classes and specs in the new gear that will be available in 5.2 and going forward. Stat “inflation” was probably most out of control during the Wrath of the Lich King, but that was an issue with how powerful the gear was that was available as the expansion began perhaps more than any other factor. As a point of comparison, the item level 213 warrior set breastplate that was available in Naxxramas gave a level 80 player 2% critical strike chance; the item level 496 warrior set breastplate available in gives 1.32% critical strike chance. We’ve learned from the past and carefully left ourselves a lot more room to grow this time around.It's our expectation that Heroic raiders should have no interest in 5.2 Raid Finder gear. If you have item level 509+ gear from 5.0/5.1 Heroics, then the question is, why would you want item level 502 gear from the Raid Finder? Players wearing normal mode gear might find some slight upgrades in the Raid Finder in the first few weeks, but it's a safe bet that any gear that was upgraded with Valor Points will probably beat anything found in the Raid Finder.

No New Sha-Touched Weapons

Watcher

You're really best off sticking to information actually contained in our patch notes or other official channels of communication if you're looking to avoid confusion.

There are no more Sha-Touched weapons forthcoming. If you've been diligent about helping Wrathion and continue to do so, your reward in 5.2 is going to be a legendary meta-gem that can go in any helmet.

PvP Gear in 5.2

Daxxarri

I don't think it's that cut and dry. If I'm understanding the numbers, 5.1 Malevolent will only be better than 5.2 Malevolent if it's carrying 2/2 item level upgrades (though it will have more stamina).

Currently, the PvP Power and stats on each tier of gear are tuned to ensure that they're the best choice for PvP compared with a PvE equivalent:

Commenti

Commento di burningeagles

on 2013-01-28T14:10:54-06:00

Kind of disappointed by the fact that there will be now new sha-touched weapons, makes me feel as if the legendary quest reward isn't that legendary since it will outdone very quickly by the new raid weapons in 5.2 as well as the fact that the cost for it is 10k for the gem if you get the next version up of the weapon. As for the raid progression I look forward to it since I hope to be in some heroic raid gear by the time 5.2 comes around allowing me to bypass the lfr encounters.

Commento di Lolus

on 2013-01-28T14:52:37-06:00

Sha-touched weapons were just for first tier, still got the prismatic socket and now we get the legendary metagems (not so legendary if they don't buff them). The weapon itself isn't far as there's only 4 chapters on this expansion before the siege of Ogrimmar

Commento di lankybrit

on 2013-01-28T14:56:19-06:00

The new Reputation stuff is fantastic. It's going to be even easier to get Rep for alts now. Good stuff.

Cheers.

Commento di Lolus

on 2013-01-28T14:58:27-06:00

The new Reputation stuff is fantastic. It's going to be even easier to get Rep for alts now. Good stuff.

Cheers.

Agree, although 'VP faction' is a complete mystery, seems like a combo of LFR+normal (after some point). Dailies not mandatory anymore, VPs will have small use if you aren't a full raider except for old factions

Commento di Manishtusu

on 2013-01-28T15:32:23-06:00

In that Lei Shen video, the technology kind of looks like a Goa'uld ha'tak's contolling panel. Fun stuff!

Commento di BosephHeyden

on 2013-01-28T15:56:13-06:00

Yeah, this Legendary chain is quickly becoming very stupid. I'm going to have to replace the weapon I've spent two patches upgrading, spend over 30K in gold to upgrade a new weapon, and now I get to work to upgrade a helmet I don't have that will likely wind up getting outdated in the next patch. I thought the whole point of this was a dynamically changing weapon that, after two or three patches, would look and feel like a Legendary weapon.

Commento di natassja72

on 2013-01-28T17:13:36-06:00

So when exactly is this patch 5.2 going live? or at least EtA

Commento di Rainemard

on 2013-01-28T18:26:20-06:00

So when exactly is this patch 5.2 going live? or at least EtA

A Tuesday in February is about as accurate as you're gonna get for now. If they're testing Lei Shen though, it can't be too far off!

Commento di Adamsm

on 2013-01-28T18:30:21-06:00

So when exactly is this patch 5.2 going live? or at least EtA

As with everything else by Blizzard: Soon TM.

Commento di Backstabmacro

on 2013-01-28T22:57:09-06:00

Yeah, this Legendary chain is quickly becoming very stupid. I'm going to have to replace the weapon I've spent two patches upgrading, spend over 30K in gold to upgrade a new weapon, and now I get to work to upgrade a helmet I don't have that will likely wind up getting outdated in the next patch. I thought the whole point of this was a dynamically changing weapon that, after two or three patches, would look and feel like a Legendary weapon.

Blizzard casts Misdirect!

It's super-effective!

Playerbase casts Wail of Betrayed Emotions!

...but it fails!

Playerbase is knocked out!

Commento di TheWheatOne

on 2013-01-29T00:56:30-06:00

Yeah, this is definitely a mixed bag. Although the rep increases are nice, they are now rendered near moot given stat inflation that makes them short stepping stones to items that are now far below what top LRF gives. Despite what they reason, having Raid Finder ilvls just one lvl below last tier's Heroic is completely unacceptable, and this is coming from someone who doesn't raid present tier! And having Sha-touched weapons now near worthless mid expansion just hits the nail in the coffin. Its like mid-cata all over again. I'd like my legendary quest rewards to at least last near the end of the expan!

Commento di Lolus

on 2013-01-29T03:01:33-06:00

So when exactly is this patch 5.2 going live? or at least EtA

A Tuesday in February is about as accurate as you're gonna get for now. If they're testing Lei Shen though, it can't be too far off!

They aren't testing bosses in order and many modes are untested + 13th boss, my guess would be after 'Love is in the air'

Commento di Rainemard

on 2013-01-29T03:45:08-06:00

Yeah, this is definitely a mixed bag. Although the rep increases are nice, they are now rendered near moot given stat inflation that makes them short stepping stones to items that are now far below what top LRF gives. Despite what they reason, having Raid Finder ilvls just one lvl below last tier's Heroic is completely unacceptable, and this is coming from someone who doesn't raid present tier! And having Sha-touched weapons now near worthless mid expansion just hits the nail in the coffin. Its like mid-cata all over again. I'd like my legendary quest rewards to at least last near the end of the expan!

Did... you not read? Originally they intended ToT LFR to award i496 gear, with normal dropping i509. However, they list a few valid arguments as to why that wasn't a good idea, and I for one agree. Normally i509 would be logical for next tier (Blizz usually increases by 13 iLvls). However, alot of people i know - myself included - have upgraded a few of their i496 gear to i504 gear. It's not very rewarding to enter a new raiding tier and see your gear increase a mere 5 iLvls.

Reputation bonuses are nice. It's funny that you complain about LFR gear being too strong, then downplay the importance of VP gear. How does one get into 5.2 LFR without an average iLvl of 480? Oh, hello short stepping stones! Guess you're a little more useful than we originally thought!

As for the Legendary... your Sha weapon is not the Legendary. Nowhere does Blizzard say that it is or will ever be. The Legendary rewards are just little celebratory items to tide you over until the actual Legendary is released. Granted, I too thought that the Legendary would be something we were going to keep with us and enhance throughout the expansion, but I threw that idea out the moment I saw the gem rewards.

This is coming from someone who doesn't raid present tier kinda sums you up nicely, in my opinion.

Commento di verduran

on 2013-01-29T03:57:35-06:00

With the LFR items tuned up to ilvl 502, they probably should raise the ilvl req back to 486 imo.Can't say I'm not disappointed with no new Sha-touched weapons, but if you think of it this way: the new questline won't be accessible unless you have completed both the 5.0 and 5.1 questline, so all your effort spent on completing those quests have not been wasted (we did enjoy the upgrade the gem+socket brought for some time, and likely even longer until we can acquire much better weapons in 5.2). Therefore as long as the new meta gem is worth the effort, I guess I would be fine with it.

Commento di Lolus

on 2013-01-29T06:58:29-06:00

I agree, if you will get 502 gear for free, instead of doing HC modes, the 480 requirement is kind of a joke

Commento di lankybrit

on 2013-01-29T10:48:15-06:00

The new Reputation stuff is fantastic. It's going to be even easier to get Rep for alts now. Good stuff.

Cheers.

Agree, although 'VP faction' is a complete mystery, seems like a combo of LFR+normal (after some point). Dailies not mandatory anymore, VPs will have small use if you aren't a full raider except for old factions

Where did you see a mention of 'VP faction'? And if you did, I presume it's just a reference to factions that sell VP gear (Klaxxi, etc.).

Cheers.

Commento di Shredan

on 2013-01-29T11:26:43-06:00

I have to agree with verduran on raising the ilvl req back to 486 imo. I use LFR and spent lots of time and gold getting up my ilvl to get into Heart Of Fear and progress on to Terrace

Commento di Adamsm

on 2013-01-29T11:32:33-06:00

Of course these are for the new LFR wings of the Thunder King Palace, so you'd still need a nice solid ilvl to get in there in the first place. If some people use them to go back to complete Heroic modes, how is that any different from what people did in Dragon Soul in Cata to finish off the Tier 11 and Firelands?

Commento di Kaldrith

on 2013-01-29T13:18:08-06:00

Raising rep with the Golden Lotus and then moving onto the Shado Pan has been torture... I welcome any rep bonuses.

Commento di Jollygood

on 2013-01-29T13:53:47-06:00

When I get home from work today, I'm going to pop open that special bottle of wine I got for Christmas and celebrate the rep changes. That's been my least favorite part of MoP.